Bernie Whitmore

Most restaurants require a bit of investigation in order to get a sense of their place on the dining spectrum. Not so at Buck’s; it laid out its mission in black and white when it hung out the sign over the front door: “Whiskey & Burger Bar.”

A relatively new venture in the Canal District, Buck’s opened last May with a décor of what we Northerners recognize as Texan: livestock portraits and plenty of cowboy and longhorn stuff scattered about. The soundtrack is country, punctuated every now and then with something ska. Strange? Perhaps, but it worked for me.

In short, Buck’s looked like a fun place, and after being seated, I wondered why it took so many months for me to take notice of the restaurant. Lisa, our server, walked my friend and me through the list of mostly local draft beers. I’m not a whiskey drinker, but for those who are, Buck’s list is extensive and includes the entry-level Fireball (yeah, that’s the one whose empty nip bottles plague the city’s sidewalks and roadways) through more adult, higher-quality fare.

We started our meal with an order of Bone-in Wings. From a list of seven sauces and rubs, we chose the Buck-a-lo Sauce. As Lisa explained, it’s a cross between traditional buffalo and their own Buck sauce. Buck’s also offers boneless wings, but in my opinion, absent the bones, you have “tenders” and a whole lot less chicken goodness.

Blistering hot from the fryer, our wings were deep, golden brown and contained plenty of moist chicken meat – especially the occasional drumstick. Dipping them into our cup of Buck-a-lo sauce, we stripped the order down to bare bones before Lisa could return to ask how we liked them. Buck-a-lo sauce proved to be a zesty balance of creamy-cool, a bit of fiery heat and a nice splash of vinegar flavor.

On this first visit, I didn’t think it appropriate to leave without trying at least one of the specialties. So, I ordered the Stuffed Buck, a hamburger “infused” with bacon and bleu cheese, then grilled and topped with arugula leaves and whiskey-caramelized onions. At first bite, the juices of my burger ran so freely they soaked the bun; it was generously packed with bacon chunks and melted cheese.

From a choice of several sides, I ordered Buck’s onion strings – onions that had been thin-sliced into curly rings and strands and then breaded and deep-fried. These were some of the best I’ve had, with mild onion flavor and crunch. Way too delicious to desecrate with ketchup.

What was really exciting, though, was the high quality of ground beef in my Stuffed Buck. This thick, lean patty was grilled with a delicious char all around the edges, which enhanced the deep beefy flavor. Delicious! And really tasty when paired up with my glass of draft beer: Prosperous, a deep-amber IPA with bitter grapefruit-citrus tones from the Medusa Brewing Company in Hudson.

On most occasions a lover of red meat, my friend decided to mix things up this evening and ordered the Fish Tacos entrée. The fact that Lisa approved gave him the confidence to order beyond Buck’s core focus, and he was rewarded with a paper-lined tray of three soft tacos packed with chunks of flaky, deep-fried white fish topped with chopped lettuce and tomato. For added flavor, he drizzled them with a cup of Buck sauce. They were served with a heap of hand-cut french fries.

I recently read research that studied hamburgers at the three major fast-food chains. Results varied a bit, but on average, these mass-produced burgers were found to be composed of 70 percent bun and condiments. This is recklessly out of conformance with official specifications for hamburger design, which specify a good burger should be mostly beef.

So the next time someone insists to you that fast-food burgers are so good and such a great value, take them to Buck’s Whiskey & Burger Bar for a burger that’s real and tasty and packed with beef!

Buck’s Whiskey & Burger Bar
62 Green St., Worcester
(508) 304-9170
bucksworcester.com